


The Anniversary

by Sally0



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Sad Peter Parker, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-08-21 07:43:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16572503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sally0/pseuds/Sally0
Summary: It's the anniversary of Ben's death and Peter has no one to talk about his grief with. He tries to go about his day normally, but can't keep his sadness inside forever. Tony is there for him.





	The Anniversary

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the talented [Livinei](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Livinei/pseuds/Livinei) for beta reading this fic and helping me with the characterizations. You're the best!

Peter wakes up on Monday morning to the sound of texts on his phone.

 

_Tony: Morning, sunshine_

_Tony: If you want to skip lab day this week, that’s fine. I’m sure you’ve got other plans._

 

Peter knows exactly what Tony is getting at. This Friday is the first anniversary of Uncle Ben’s death. He didn’t realize Tony knew, but then again, he’s not surprised. His mentor was the only one who figured out he was Spider-Man; of course he could figure this out, too. He opens his phone to reply.

 

_Peter: No, I want to go._

_Peter: I don’t have plans. May is working late. And working on my suit makes me feel useful. I feel like can honor Ben’s memory by helping others. If that makes sense._

 

_Tony: It does._

_Tony: OK see you Friday_

 

Peter locks his phone and lies back, staring at the ceiling. It’s true, he doesn’t have plans for Friday. May has surprised him (in a bad way) by not wanting to do anything to observe the date. She doesn’t even want to acknowledge it. She’s been acting more and more closed off the closer it gets to the anniversary. Peter is confused and saddened, but he can tell by May’s demeanour that he shouldn’t push it. She’s already snapped at him more than once when he tentatively tried to bring it up.

 

So Friday is just going to be a day like any other. _Great_.

 

The day arrives, and Peter starts regretting his promise to go to the lab. He feels on the verge of tears all day, and it’s exhausting. When school gets out, he’s weary, the significance of the day and the pain of grief and remembrance pressing down on him from all sides. May has specifically scheduled herself for a double shift today, so she won’t even be there when Peter gets home from his internship. He just feels like ordering takeout from Ben’s favourite restaurant and eating it alone in his room. He knows Tony would understand if he canceled, but his logical side knows it wouldn’t be good for him to wallow in self-pity alone in his room all evening. And he _does_ want to work on his suit some more.

 

He arrives at the lab and forces himself to greet his mentor with his usual enthusiasm. Tony’s eyes linger on him a little longer than normal after returning the greeting, but otherwise he doesn’t acknowledge that anything’s out of the ordinary.

 

“Want to work on your own suit today? Or you could help me with the cooling system in mine.”

 

Normally Peter would be beyond excited to work on the Iron Man suit – he’s only been allowed to touch it a handful of times – but he suspects Tony is only offering today because he feels sorry for him. The thought of his mentor going out of his way to be extra nice to him brings a lump to Peter’s throat, which he hastily swallows away.

 

“Um, no, that’s OK. I had an idea for increasing my suit’s scanning range. I was thinking I’d work on the code for that.”

 

“Makes sense,” replies Tony. “Making the Spider-Man suit the best it can be is a nice way to honour your uncle’s memory today.”

 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” says Peter quickly. He’s worried that if they keep going down this path of conversation, he’ll break down right here in front of Tony, and that would be the worst possible thing that could happen.

 

“Sure thing, kid,” replies Tony. He turns his back to continue his own work, and Peter opens the laptop at his workstation to get started on his code.

 

They work in silence for a few moments before Tony speaks again. “By the way, Happy asked for the night off. Between you and me, I think he’s got a hot date tonight that he doesn’t want me knowing about. I haven’t given him an answer yet, but if it’s alright with you, I’ll tell him yes. It would mean spending the night here, though. I can text May to ask.”

 

Peter hesitates. On the one hand, he’s still eager after such a long and trying week to just go to his room and cry into a pillow for a while. On the other hand, sitting home alone in their apartment – the apartment Ben used to live with them in – waiting for May to come home late and act like her husband never existed, isn’t exactly appealing. At least here at the compound, he can hide in his room if he needs privacy, without having to share the place with the unacknowledged ghost of Uncle Ben.

 

“Yeah, that would be fine. I can text May, you don’t have to.”

 

Tony nods. Then his phone suddenly buzzes three times in succession. He frowns at it. “Pepper. I have to take care of this.” He stands up. “Back in a few minutes. Think you can hold down the fort?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“But don’t think about touching my suit. Friday’s a real tattle-tale.”

 

It’s only after Tony steps out that Peter realizes how hard it’s been to hold himself together in his mentor’s presence. He takes a deep breath and wills himself to concentrate on the code in front of him.

 

But when he tries to focus on the screen, the words are blurry and Peter is horrified to feel his eyes welling up with tears. _No. This can’t happen, not here,_ he thinks frantically.

 

He roughly presses the heels of his hands against his eyes to somehow force the tears back in. “No,” he says aloud. As if he can talk himself out of breaking down. “You will _not_ do this. Not here, you stupid baby.” He squeezes his eyes shut and continues the self-lecture to stave off the tears. He doesn’t hear Tony reenter the lab. “Just stop. Stop, fucking stop. You will not cry like a little bitch in front of Tony Stark. Not in front of _him._ ”

 

 _Cough_.

 

Peter emits a strangled sort of gasp and stands up. He takes a deep breath and turns around. His face is red but his tears are as yet unshed. “Mr. Stark! I’m sorry. Sorry, I just…I’m…”

 

Tony cuts him off mid-apology. “No. None of that.” He walks over and leans against the desk beside Peter, shooting him a sympathetic look. “You have a right to be sad, kid. Today of all days. You shouldn’t feel the need to apologize for that.”

 

Peter can’t meet Tony’s eye. “It’s just…just…” He’s dangerously close to breaking down. He closes his eyes and sighs. “It’s been a whole year. I shouldn’t be this upset, this…” he looks down and whispers the next words to himself: “this weak.” He wishes he could just run out of the lab so he can finally let his tears loose, but Tony’s presence roots him to the spot.

 

“Hey,” his mentor says gently, placing a comforting hand on Peter’s shoulder and dipping his head to catch his eye. “It’s just us here, kid. You don’t have to put on an act for me. I know you’re hurting.” A pained expression crosses Tony’s face and he breaks eye contact. He takes a deep breath. He seems almost afraid of what he’s going to say next. “Trust me. I know. I wasn’t much older than you when I lost my parents.” Peter looks up at him, surprised. Tony hasn’t ever spoken about his parents before. All Peter knows is what he’s read online.

 

Tony looks back at Peter. His voice has gotten quieter, but he continues. “The anniversary always hurts. You can’t stop it from hurting. You just have to let yourself feel it, and ride out the pain.”

 

 _No, no, no,_ thinks Peter as the tears return to his eyes unbidden.

 

Tony’s hand moves from Peter’s shoulder to the back of his neck, and he gives him a sad smile. “I’ll ride it out with you.”

 

At his words, the dam breaks and Peter finally allows himself to break down. His face slowly crumples and he lets himself fall into Tony, who wraps his arms around him and hugs him close.

 

They stand like that for a short while, their arms around each other as Peter sobs into Tony’s shoulder. Neither one of them speaks for a few minutes.

 

Eventually, Peter’s sobs die down, but he doesn’t make a move to break from Tony’s embrace. His head still leaning on his mentor’s shoulder, he tells him about Aunt May, his voice still shaking with emotion. “She’s not interested in doing anything about the anniversary. It’s like sh-she’s…pretending Ben is out of town, or never existed. She’s been like this a couple weeks. She won’t talk about him at all, and I’m not allowed to either. She s- _snapped_ at me when I suggested we go out to Vapiano’s tonight. It was Ben’s favourite restaurant. So I didn’t mention it again.”

 

Tony sighs and nods. “That’s rough, kid. She’s obviously hurting too. Dealing with it in her own way. Give her time; she’ll probably feel better as the date gets farther behind her.”

 

“Yeah,” sighs Peter, finally breaking out of the hug and sitting back down. Tony takes a seat beside him. “Ned is supportive. He listens to me, but he doesn’t…doesn’t _get_ it, y’know? And he already has to keep Spider-Man a secret. Plus he’s my, y’know, man in the chair. I don’t want to burden him with _all_ my problems.”

“You can burden me,” says Tony with a slight shrug and a smile. “Anytime.”

 

Peter smiles back. “Thanks,” he whispers.

 

They’re silent for a moment before Tony swivels his chair toward the computer on Peter’s desk. “Alright, then. How ‘bout some dinner? What’s that restaurant called again? We can get it to go and you can tell me some more about Ben. If you want.”

 

“Vapiano’s. That would be really nice, but we don’t have to order from there. It’s in the city. I’m fine with anything for supper.”

 

“Ah-ah!” Tony holds up a finger, and brings up a video call. Happy’s face appears on screen.

 

“Hey guys, what’s up?”

 

“Hey, Hap. Need you to head into the city for some takeout. A place called Vapiano’s. We’ll send you our order en route.”

 

“Sure thing.”

 

“Oh,” Peter begins, looking from Tony to Happy, “no, Happy, you don’t have to do that.”

 

“I’m glad to, kid. I didn’t have much else going on tonight. Just some security reports, which can wait.”

 

Peter is confused. “Didn’t Mr. Stark give you the night off for your date?”

 

Now it’s Happy’s turn to be confused. “No, I never asked for the night off. What date? What’s he talking about, Boss?”

 

“Bye, Happy, I’ll call you back when you’re on the road!” He presses a button and Happy’s puzzled face disappears.

 

Peter looks at Tony, who just shrugs and smiles. “Ya got me.”

 

They both laugh, and Peter gives his mentor a watery smile. “Thanks, Mr. Stark.”

 

“Anytime, kiddo.”

 


End file.
